An amateur cake and preserve maker from Eastbourne has been awarded for her efforts after raising almost £16,000. Yana Askaroff raised the money through holding quarterly coffee mornings at her home, and was awarded with the “Resident of the Month” award for November 2011.

Yana started raising money back in 2006 after she lost her sister to a kidney disease, showing off her talents in the garden and the kitchen along the way. From there, the fundraising efforts grew and grew, and she now makes around 100 cakes and 50 preserves to sell at the events each year.

She has helped with a number of charities in the past five years, including Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Demelza House Hospice, raising increasing amounts of money along the way, starting with £300 and now going up to £16,000.

The Resident of the Month award was brought in to recognise less famous people in the town, who have made positive contributions to the area in a particular field, and Yana was presented with a certificate by the Eastbourne Herald newspaper and Advanta Chartered Accountants, the joint sponsors.

The director of Advanta, Mike Cottingham, gave a speech at the presentation and said that “Yana’s efforts are incredible. She bakes hundreds of cakes in her spare time and when she isn’t doing that, she’s doing her garden so that she has somewhere to host the coffee mornings. She is a thoroughly deserving winner of the award.”

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